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Man who shot himself outside of White House identified

A man who took his own life outside of the White House by a self-inflicted gunshot wound on Sat., March 3, has been identified by Washington, DC police as Cameron Ross Burgess, 26, of Maylene, Alabama.

NBC News

According to a Metropolitan Police Department statement on Sunday, “At approximately 11:46 am, Burgess approached the vicinity of the North White House fence line and removed a concealed handgun and fired several rounds, none of which appear at this time to have been directed towards the White House.”

The victim suffered a single gunshot wound to the head and died from his injuries on the scene. The Secret Service has stated that they fired no shots, and that no one but Burgess was injured at the scene.

The shooter’s remains were transported to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner for an autopsy. Law enforcement sources have told reporters that no suicide note has been found, but that a book was recovered at the scene containing incoherent writing.

The area was blocked off following the incident and a car with Alabama license plates was swept by a bomb squad, searched and towed.

The White House was also placed on lockdown. President Trump and first lady Melania Trump were at the Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida and were scheduled to return to Washington D.C. the evening after the shooting occurred. Deputy press secretary Hogan Gidley said that the president had been briefed following Burgess’s death.